PR Insight: Pitching articles to the media

Best practices for story development, communication and building relationships

One of the most effective ways to draw attention to your credit union is to actively engage with the media in order to generate positive news stories. Most people quoted in news articles are either the most prominent sources the reporter could find or they have reached out to reporters directly through a public relations process called pitching. Quality pitching, when done correctly, can increase awareness among local media and help position the credit union’s spokesperson as a reliable news source.

Creating a Story

Pitching is most effective when you have a good story that will be of interest to the media outlet’s own target audience. The story should be timely and provide perspective a consumer would want but could not have gotten elsewhere. Potential topics that would be of interest to the community could include tips for dealing with such timely financial issues as how to get a mortgage in the spring during the home-buying season or how to secure a line of credit when disaster strikes after a storm.

A great place to start when developing a pitch is to look at existing articles already being published by the media. You cannot re-pitch a story that’s already been published, but these articles help illustrate what resonates with the reporters you’re pitching to. Another source of information might be an editorial calendar, which some media outlets provide on their websites to list future story topics for potential advertisers. In addition, when you have an existing relationship with a reporter, you can simply ask what topics their media outlet plans on covering.

 

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